Oroville Dam: DA takes hard line on evacuation looting cases

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Officers check on businesses in downtown Oroville on Feb. 13 as the mandatory evacuation order remains in effect. Some criminals seized the opportunity to burglarize homes and businesses while owners were away. (Emily Bertolino — Mercury-Register file)

Oroville – When erosion threatened the collapse of the emergency spillway at Oroville Dam, more than 180,000 residents downstream were ordered to flee their homes and livelihoods or risk becoming trapped and killed by a rushing wall of water.

For three days in February, that meant many homes and businesses in southern Butte County were left unattended, a reality too tempting for some to let pass without exploitation.

In one case, authorities investigated a burglary in which a suspect used a shotgun to blow out the front door of Golden Feather Marketplace in Oroville. In another, workers inspecting levees near Gridley for the Department of Water Resources spotted a man riding an all-terrain vehicle and pulling a trailer with a gun safe on the back — both taken in a home burglary in the hours after mandatory evacuations were ordered.

As cases of looting began trickling in for prosecution, Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey said his office made a policy decision. Prosecutors in each case would seek the most severe punishment possible, and no plea deals that could lessen a defendant’s maximum possible sentence would be offered.

So far, the District Attorney’s Office has taken on eight such cases — all of which remain active. Some already have trial dates scheduled. And one could result in a life sentence for the accused.

Explaining the hard-line posture, Ramsey said one objective of the criminal justice system is demonstrating the consequences of certain behavior.

“There’s a special place in the criminal justice system for people that take advantage of a community-wide disaster,” he said. “These are the lowest of the low. These are people that are true predators, and we have a place for such predators. And that’s in our prison system.”

Some defendants charged with crimes committed during the evacuation face the possibility of lengthy prison terms because of their criminal history, which can mean additional years in prison at sentencing.

A defendant in one case, John Beebe Jr., 38, of Gridley, faces the possibility of 63 years to life in prison if convicted, Ramsey said.

Prosecutors have accused Beebe of breaking into a home in Gridley that had been evacuated because of the crisis at the dam. The residents received a call Feb. 14 telling them their home had been broken into, and more than $2,000 in household items was reported missing, including jewelry, electronics and clothing.

Beebe has been charged with first-degree residential burglary for his alleged role in the break-in, and court documents indicate he was previously convicted of several first-degree burglaries in Sacramento County.

If convicted, the documents indicate he could be sentenced under California’s three-strikes law for a third strike.

Beebe has pleaded not guilty.

In some cases, defendants have been charged with the crime of “looting,” which, according to a section of the state penal code, can lead to a mandatory six-month jail term for people who are granted probation after having been convicted of a second-degree burglary committed during a state or local emergency.

The looting provision also applies to certain thefts committed during such emergencies.

In one case, the defendant, Jacob Elderkin, 27, of Oroville, has pleaded no contest to looting by second-degree burglary after prosecutors accused him of breaking into Tony’s Food and Liquor on Table Mountain Boulevard in Oroville, according to court documents.

In that case, Ramsey said, a tow truck driver traveling on Table Mountain the morning after evacuations were ordered spotted a man dragging a trash can out of the parking lot of the liquor store, which also had a smashed front window.

The driver found the sight suspicious and tried to detain the man when, at the same time, a Homeland Security officer happened to drive by the scene, Ramsey said. The federal officer joined the effort, cuffed the man and alerted the Oroville Police Department, which found in the trash can several doughnuts and about $300 worth of alcohol, the district attorney said.

But not all defendants accused of second-degree burglary for crimes committed in the hours after the evacuations face the added looting penalty.

Ramsey explained there was a gap of time from when the sheriff issued mandatory evacuations about 4 p.m. Feb. 12 to when the governor issued an emergency order for later that same night. Second-degree burglaries committed within that gap can’t be charged as looting burglaries.

In one case, two people have been charged with second-degree commercial burglary — but not looting — for their alleged roles in breaking into the Dollar General store at Lincoln and Oro Dam boulevards in Oroville, according to court documents.

The break-in happened about 6 p.m. Feb. 12, which was after evacuations were ordered but before the governor issued the emergency order. Ramsey said a 30-pack of Bud Light beer and two bags of Doritos chips were taken from the store.

In an attempt to expand the looting law, Assemblyman James Gallagher, R-Yuba City, has introduced a bill in the state Legislature that would “close a loophole found during the crisis in my district by expanding the current looting statute to include mandatory evacuation orders,” according to an analysis of the bill.

The bill, which is opposed by the California Public Defenders Association, is in the committee process.

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